‘You’re destructive regulator’- ASEPA tackles NCA

Civil Society Organisation ASEPA has described National Communication Authority as a destructive regulator which is in a hurry to close down media firms instead of pushing for settlement of debts.

A statement issued by ASEPA on Wednesday 13 October 2021 in reaction to the NCA’s restoration of licenses of 133 stations shutdown in 2017, said “My point is, if a business owes you money, the best approach is to reach a settlement plan which involves the business operating to make an income to settle their indebtedness rather than closing it and risk your debt going bad.
So what has the NCA really achieved in fours years of recklessness, insensitivity and high-handedness?”

The statement further said “So the NCA must excuse us with their propaganda we are not impressed, this has nothing to do with the restoration of media freedom, rather this is a deadly precedent set by the NCA that would continue to undermine the foundations of our democracy which rests on media freedom in Ghana and I hope in future nobody complains if same principles or worse are applied to other media houses when there is a change of Government.(and the list is too tall)”.

Below is the statement

Mensah Thompson of ASEPA writes….

ON THE APPROVAL OF NEW FREQUENCIES FOR MEDIA HOUSES WHOSE LICENSES WERE REVOKED BY THE NCA-WE CANNOT BE IMPRESSED BY THIS DESTRUCTIVE REGULATOR

Yesterday news was out that the NCA has restored the media licenses for 133 radio stations that were closed down in 2018/2019.

It was the government’s propaganda station Asaase radio, that was established by the President’s family after these radio stations had been closed down that broke the story and started this spin ultimately to mislead the public of – non-existent Government’s magnanimity.
(How they seem to be getting the lead on all Government stories lately?)

Later the some members of the opposition NDC whose media houses were the chief victims of this reckless attack on the media in Ghana, also jumped to the fray and started promoting the propaganda as well amidst unwarranted jubilations.

But after reading the official commmunique from the NCA, I wasn’t only livid, I was wandering where the jubilations were from in the first place!!

Folks if the NCA is expecting in any form of commendations, or applause for being destructive, reckless, inefficient and political, it definitely it won’t get it from us.

Folks the reality is that the NCA is not restoring the frequencies of these media that were closed recklessly, kindly ignore the spin and propaganda.
What the NCA is doing is to approve new licenses for these media houses whom they asked to re-apply for new licenses and frequencies after their original licenses and frequencies were revoked.

Now according to the NCA, their approval of these new licenses for the media houses whose licenses were revoked is subject to the media owners or operators attending some sensitization workshop on the management and operation of media houses organized by the NCA.

And here is where my anger starts from, you revoked the license of a media house because you the NCA failed to ensure compliance of your own regulations leading to a number of media houses defaulting on their obligations and after four years you come back to tell us they should attend some workshop in exchange for a new license or frequency?
When they have spent money to develop a brand around a frequency, built their business model around it, lost huge revenues in terms advertisement and operational income???

What kind of regulator is this?
If it’s a workshop you want to organize to train these media operators to understand their responsibilities, must you close down their media houses first before you can provide a training you were supposed to have provided in the first place?

And oh, must it take the NCA four years to organize a workshop?

Unless, the NCA is going to restore the old frequencies of these media houses and compensate them for the losses in revenues and rusted equipments, I don’t know how helpful this current activity is to anyone.

If you look at the books of some of the media houses and their revenue in flows, it is easy to conclude that if the NCA had allowed them to operate, arrange a term of payment for them within a certain period, by now many of them would have been able to satisfy their obligations to the NCA…
Safe to say if you do a revenue projection for the media houses for three years and deduct how much they owed the NCA from it, the NCA would have a lot of compensating to do.

My point is, if a business owes you money, the best approach is to reach a settlement plan which involves the business operating to make an income to settle their indebtedness rather than closing it and risk your debt going bad.
So what has the NCA really achieved in fours years of recklessness, insensitivity and high-handedness?

So the NCA must excuse us with their propaganda we are not impressed, this has nothing to do with the restoration of media freedom, rather this is a deadly precedent set by the NCA that would continue to undermine the foundations of our democracy which rests on media freedom in Ghana and I hope in future nobody complains if same principles or worse are applied to other media houses when there is a change of Government.(and the list is too tall)

And oh let’s ponder on this quote by Thomas Jefferson ,former US President…*”I think it is honorable for a Government to neither know nor notice is sycophants or censors, for it would be undignified to pamper the former and persecute the latter!!”*

Sad to say this Government rather keeps a list of its censors and sycophants!!!

Mensah Thompson
Executive Director ,ASEPA

Source: africaneditors.com